What Could've Been
by missjacklynsparrow
Summary: Bones/OC This is the Alternate ending to In Love and War. For all the Bones/Tempe shippers that read it :


**Disclaimer: I own nothing of Star Trek, only Tempe.**

**A/N: So this is the Tempe and Bones ending for all of the Bones shippers. Part of me wishes that this could be the ending but...It wasn't what I had originally and I didn't have it in me to change it completely...So here it is! Cheers!**

**Oh one more quick little note thingy... This starts before the end of the movie so bear with me through the unlike ending, 'twas nothing but an idea. **

**Also a small part of the beginning is the same as Ch. 28 from **_**In Love and War **_**but it changes up so keep reading! **

**Last thing.. If you haven't read **_**In Love and War **_**you should be fine if you just want some Bonesy goodness, but it couldn't hurt to read it if you wanna :)**

**What Could Have Been**

Leo and I stood shoulder to shoulder in the transporter room as the seconds ticked by slowly. Every second meant a second closer to failure or destruction. I almost wished the metaphorical clock was there to tick ominously, anything would be better than the smothering silence.

There was no animosity between Leo and me. He held his iron reserve when I was finally able to have my short lived reunion with James before Spock and he had left on their suicide mission. My pleas had met deaf ears when I begged him not to go, to stay and let Spock be the hero.

I was answered with his trademark smirk and a cocky quip. "I couldn't let ol' pointy ears have all the fun saving the world."

That brought a smile to my face and he left me with a kiss, his taste still lingering on my lips. Now I wished I had tried harder to stop him, but my attempts would have been futile, he was his father's son through and through.

I watched the frequency that I knew to be his heartbeat on the screen with such intensity; Leo grasped my hand to keep it from shaking.

I counted the seconds as they went by, the seconds turned into minutes and the red alert siren went off.

"They be warping out of 'ere." Scotty said as he read his screen. "An' we be af'er 'em."

One couldn't feel the ship move, but I could've sworn I felt it jolt as we warped after Spock and Nero's ships.

Leo was stiff next to me, both of us awaiting the call back to the Enterprise. Waiting for the 'beam me up'. Waiting to jump into action. Finally the silence was broken.

"Enterprise now!"

His voice made me clench Leo's hand with renewed intensity as my heart pounded in my throat. Lights swirled around the pad and figures began to materialize, three figures to be exact. Two of them were James and Captain Pike. Pike was leaning on James so it made them look like one massive blob instead of two people and there was Spock.

I grinned as blue eyes met my own and he smiled back at me. "Nice timing, Scotty." He said as he helped carry Pike to Bones.

Scotty broke out laughing. "I've never beamed three people from two targets onto one pad before." He was overjoyed with the technology and his success.

A group of nurses stormed in behind us to help Bones with Pike as James' lips crashed onto mine. The kiss was short and sweet because next I knew I was being dragged down the hall to the Bridge.

Spock, Jim, and I were met with the large puppy dog smile of the little Russian. "Keptin, zee enemy's ship is losing power, shields are down, sir."

His hand let go of my arm and I stopped to stand beside Nyota. She smiled up at me and I smiled back as I squeezed her shoulder. Our mutual bond of being two of the very few females on board strengthened.

"Hail them now." James said.

"Aye."

We watched the Narrada and a huge light went off in the center of the vessel, the red matter must've ignited and a black hole would be soon to follow. Suddenly Nero's face came up on the view screen.

He would finally pay for the death of my friend, the death of James's father. He would also pay for the anguish that Winona suffered each and every day, and lastly he would pay for robbing Jimmy of the father and childhood he would never have.

I looked from Kirk to Spock, these two made a formidable pair and to think that only a matter of hours ago they hated each other, well Kirk hated while Spock had mild displeasure. One could only ponder the great things that they would accomplish together.

"This is Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise, your ship is compromised. You are too close to the singularity to survive without assistance, which we are willing to provide."

"Captain what are you doing?" Spock asked in hushed tones, it took all of my concentration to hear what he was saying.

"You show them compassion; it may be the only way to earn peace with Romulus, its logic, Spock. I thought you would like that." James whispered back.

Spock's head cocked to the side slowly. "No, not really. Not this time."

Nero interrupted their conversation and all eyes returned to the screen. "I would rather suffer the end of Romulus a thousand times. I would rather die in agony then accept assistance from you." He declared as his screen blurred in and out of focus.

"You got it." They separated and Jim went to his chair as Spock went to his station. "Arm phasers, fire everything we got."

"Yes sir." Sulu replied.

We opened fire upon the ship before us and watched as it was shot to hell and dissolved by the growing black hole. When it finally disappeared within its mass, warning signs flashed across the screen.

"Mr. Sulu, let's go home." James shouted.

"Aye sir." Sulu replied and the black hole disappeared from the screen and was replaced by the black expansion that was space. After a few seconds and the stars not melting into a line as we hit warp, James interrupted the strained silence.

"Why aren't we at warp?" He asked bluntly.

"We are sir." Chekhov replied.

"Kirk to Engineering. Get us out of here, Scotty."

A muffled reply was heard. "Captain we're being pulled in by the gravity."

"Go to Maximum warp, push it."

"I'm givin' 'er all she's got, Cap'n"

We all were holding our breaths and looking around, half of us were in panic and I just looked to James. He would get us out of this, hell he had gotten us out of everything, he could manage this.

The hull cracked and my hand tightened on Uhura's shoulder. She looked up to me briefly and we shared a look of panic and absolute faith in Jimmy.

"All she's got is not good enough." James shouted as we felt the jerk of being pulled backwards towards the black hole.

Scotty shouted something unintelligible and it was ended by. "Well that could work."

"DO IT DO IT!" James screamed as the glass on the screen cracked. Then we were jolted forward. I clenched Nyota's chair to hold my balance and keep from falling when his eyes met mine. Triumph shined through his icy blues and with that one look I finally saw what I had been waiting for…a future.

We all looked around at each other smiling and the few of us chuckling slightly. Safety. It made me weak with adrenaline and in those shared looks a sense of comradeship was born.

Icy blues met my emerald eyes and a smile played upon his lips, color drained from his face and he looked deathly pale as he arched forward to fall out of the captain's chair in slow motion. Time froze as I watched his magnificent body crumple and wither.

I hit the communicator and shouted for Leo to come to the Bridge. Eyes bore into my back as I fell to my knees to hold his hand. I rolled him onto his back with the assistance of Spock. Each labored breath was a stab to my heart as I squeezed his hand.

"Jimmy, baby hold on. Leo will be here soon." I choked out and brushed my hand over clammy skin. He fought to smile at me as I fought the burning tears that threatened to fall.

"Tempe.." He croaked out.

"Yes Jimmy?" I said as my self-control began to dissolve.

"I love you." He said through labored breaths.

"I love you too, James. I always have." I leaned forward to kiss his lips that were slowly beginning to lose their color.

Leo came running through the automatic doors and landed on the other side of Jim's crumpled form. His tricorder was out within seconds and he was scanning him feverishly.

"Tempe.." He started before coughs wracked his body and blood oozed out of the side of his mouth.

"Shh..Jimmy." I soothed.

"I beat him didn't I?" He choked out.

"Yes baby, you beat your dad's record fair and square. Now stay with me so you can tell your mom." I said as I brushed the cold sweat off his clammy forehead.

"Fuck." Leo interrupted. I looked up and in Leo's eyes my worst fears were confirmed.

"He's bleeding internally we have to move him now to save him." He whispered out trying to not scare James, but it was too late to scare him. He knew he was dying, I could see it in every single inch of him. For once my fighter had stopped fighting and had accepted his fate.

"Don't stop fighting baby. We are going to save you." I said as the first tear finally fell.

"No Tempe, my time has come." He coughed and more blood came up. The crimson was a horrid contrast to his pale skin.

"No it hasn't. Don't leave me Jimmy." I said as tears began to fall on his face.

"Don't cry Tempe. I'll always be with you. I promise." He said as he struggled to keep his eyes open.

I stared into his perfect eyes as I struggled to find words, struggled to find a way for him to stay with me.

"Don't leave.." My voice cracked and I pressed my lips to his deathly cold ones and I held his face within my hands.

"I love you, Tempe." His eyes fluttered shut and I saw those icy blue eyes that had haunted me for my entire life for the last time. I pressed my lips to his for the last time as all warmth left his body and his heart stopped underneath my palm.

The metallic taste of his blood was enough to send me over the edge and I was engulfed in hysterics.

"Don't leave me..Jimmy don't go." I cried over and over as I lay on his still chest. Hands that weren't his pulled me off, hands that I knew but not the hands that I craved, not the hands that I needed. Arms engulfed me and I couldn't help but to want them to belong to James, but they weren't his. His arms would never comfort me again.

New sobs continued to wrack my body as I buried my face in Leo's chest; his familiar scent placating me for the time being. I choked trying to suck air into my deprived lungs as my tears soaked Leo's blue shirt through.

He lifted me up bridal style and I wailed like a newborn baby as I was taken away from my James.

--

I was an empty shell. Life had lost its point; its meaning had vanished like smoke.

I had spent centauries upon centauries with haunting dreams of icy blue eyes and when they had finally become a reality, the reality had disappeared into fantasy and slipped through my out-stretched fingers unattainable like smoke.

We had a day left before we could make our triumphant return, we were the saviors of Earth, and the only problem was our hero had left us. The return would be bittersweet, so few were alive; so few had survived.

I sat in Leo's room, on his rumpled sheets and I was never alone. I saw the fear that lurked behind his sorrow. The fear of losing me, and I couldn't blame him, most days I was close to losing myself. He would always be with me. Or he would have someone else sitting with me, watching me like I was a two year-old that couldn't care for herself.

Nyota would be with me, and even though she never liked James, I could tell that she missed him. Everyone did, even people who had only known his the small amount of time that he spent with them while we were fighting to save our lives, along with the rest of our planet.

Spock even spent two hours watching over me when Leo was in a major bind and had no one else to go to. We sat there in complete silence, but I knew he felt everything I did, even if it was lack of emotion. My strong emotions; such as, sorrow, depression, and an ever consuming guilt, didn't even phase him. It wasn't until I had sunken into the apathy towards life, towards living did he panic.

He asked for a mind meld and I couldn't refuse him. He probed my mind for happy memories and brought them forth. I was flooded with memories of raising James, the memories that were the purest and happiest ones that I had. The happiness was only a fleeting joy, the reality came crashing down too fast for it to linger.

Sulu even came and spent time with me. That one shocked me most, our interactions had been limited to me being his doctor, but Jimmy saved his life and he wanted to repay him in some way, even if the only way to repay was to take care of me for a few hours.

Finally the never ending pain vanished as Leo pressed a hypospray to my neck and the warm embrace of sleep held me.

--

Our return was to be the triumphant return of a hero. No hero was left to be triumphant for, only a body remained. A body that was about to be laid to rest, forever.

I held onto Winona Kirk's clammy hand as the casket containing her son and the last thing that kept her alive closed. Tears cascaded down her age worn face and my own eyes were red-rimmed and puffy from the incessant tears. Leo's warm arm was the only offer of protection for me as his own face was streaked with tears.

The only thing I was ever able to bring Winona Kirk was heart-break and sorrow. I was there when her husband died and I was there as her golden child followed in his father's footsteps.

Death ran in the Kirk family; especially death at the hand of Nero. He had taken a beloved husband and now a darling son. The loss had to be too much for a single woman. I put my arm around her shoulder like I had so many years ago, when I was a different person in a different world.

A loud wail emitted from Winona as the casket was lowered slowly into the earth. My James was a fighter, a fighter until the very end. Then he accepted his fate like a man, a man that I had once gotten the pleasure to know, he accepted it just like his father had. James died a man as he walked into death's cold embrace and accepted it.

--

A month was gone and there was no news that the Fleet's flagship would be leaving anytime soon. Graduation had come and went and life went on. It was unsettling, the normal routine that we had slipped into was too monotonous for me to handle.

I moved off campus with Leo. He was working shifts at the local hospital and on campus making ends meet. I sat wallowing in sorrow, day in and day out. Leo hadn't given up on me. He forced food down my throat and tried to care for me.

I held on to life, for him. He was the only thing I had left in this world. Winona's death followed her son's, it wasn't unexpected, she had lost everything, at least now she was with George again.

Leo came home from work reeking of antiseptic and he held a bag where the delicious scents of home cooking wafted off it.

He pulled out a delicious southern feast and forced me to eat it instead of allowing me to push it around on my plate. The meal should've been delicious and Leo seemed to think it was but all I could taste was cardboard. I swallowed and the lump slid down my throat.

Silence. We were once happy and now only silence filled the dead air. Leo would talk and he would try to get me to talk back, he would do anything to have me smile again, but I couldn't. I was cruel. I tortured him and the defeat etched into his face was a knife to my already shattered heart.

After yet another silent meal, his hope seemed to vanish and complete defeat was all that was left. "You need rest, Tempe." He said as he brushed greasy hair out of my face. Sorrow filled eyes met my own and I knew he saw nothing in mine, for I no longer saw anything within my own eyes. I barely even recognized the woman I saw in the mirror. Angst etched her face and her eyes were a dead empty wasteland.

I stood from the small table and shed my clothes as I crawled into our bed. I lay there unable to sleep, but unable to see the pain that I was causing Leo. He deserved better, he needed better. I wasn't the only one suffering he was too. He lost his best friend and lost the woman he loved all within a few moments.

It took him three hours to come to bed. I had watched the minutes tick by on the clock, waiting for him to come to bed, wasted again. As soon as he entered our room I could smell the reek of whiskey, his preferred beverage.

He crawled in between the sheets and stayed on his side of the bed instead of moving closer to the center hoping that I would crawl into his arms like I once did. For the first time since my Jimmy left me, all I wanted was someone to hold me.

I had rebuffed Leo for so long; I couldn't blame him for giving up hope. He had held me for a week while I did nothing but cry. The tears still came but apathy had begun to replace them, and it wasn't apathy towards his death, it was towards life in general- I had quit caring.

I crawled towards Leo's sleeping form. "I'm so sorry." I mumbled to his sleeping form and I slid underneath his arm and lay on his bare chest. His arm tightened around me instinctively and for the first time I felt alive again. I could remember the feelings of love, comfort, and protection.

--

Another two weeks had passed. The pain was lessening as I opened myself to Leo's comforting love. I couldn't push him away any longer, the love I had for him returned bubbling to the surface and I remembered that I knew in a world without James I would've been with Leo. The world was now without James and I couldn't hurt the other man I loved any longer.

I leaned over the white porcelain and lost my dinner from the night before along with my breakfast I had just eaten. Nausea had been hitting me over the head for the last week and I had been unable to gain any of the weight I had lost back.

A new worry plagued Leo; I had come back from the edge just to pick up an eating disorder in his mind. I couldn't blame his suspicions even I had my doubts to my nausea, I couldn't get sick, it was impossible, so there were only two other logical solutions; one I was bulimic or two I was pregnant.

"Baby you still in there?" Leo asked as I retched again. I wiped bile off my mouth before answering.

"Yes, I'm sick again." I called back as my head spun with nausea. I leaned back over the toilet. I heard footsteps behind me and gentle hands pulled my sticky hair away from my face. Another hand rubbed my back as I heaved out the rest of the contents of my stomach.

"You need to have a check-up sweetheart." He murmured.

"I'm a doctor. I can take care of myself."

"I know that baby, but you've been sick for a week now and have refused to let me do anything about it." He helped me stand and watched me brush the taste of vomit out of my mouth. He held my long curls as I spat into the sink.

"I know what's wrong and I'll fix it. Promise sweetheart." I stroked his cheek and he smiled at me. This was our happiness, each other; it was all we had left in the world. Jim had left us both and neither of us wanted to return to Starfleet. We had both lost too much to want to risk losing each other.

"Spock wanted to see me today." I said casually as he started to get ready for his shift at the hospital. He paused from pulling on his scrub top and turned to look at me.

"Oh really?" I nodded. "And what does he want?" He asked as he pulled his shirt on.

"He wants me to meet someone and he wants to know if you and I will return and serve with him." I said slowly.

"So the pointy-eared bastard is Captain?" I smacked his arm.

"Be nice. Yes he is captain. He wants you to be the CMO and me to be the ships counselor. They are leaving within the week."

His eyebrows scrunched together as he thought. "We haven't talked about going back. Do you want to?" He asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"No. Do you?" I asked as I searched his eyes imploringly.

"Hell no. Space is nothing but disease and death." He said as he pulled me into his arms. He kissed my forehead. "Go talk to the hobgoblin and I'll see you at dinner." We kissed before he headed out to work.

I grabbed the medical kit he always left in the apartment and went to the bathroom. I grabbed the tricorder and scanned my body waiting for the results that would tell me why I was throwing up. Then there it was, a perfect baby growing inside of me.

--

"Temperance." Spock said warmly as he greeted me at the door. "Captain Spock." I replied as I opened my arms for a hug. He hugged me quickly and I was slightly surprised at his human response.

"Please come in, there is someone of great importance for you to meet." I followed him inside his room and to his sitting area where an older Vulcan man sat.

The older Vulcan turned around and his eyes lit up when he saw me. "Temperance." He smiled and stood hugging me immediately.

"Hello..." I said shocked at his forwardness. "Do I know you?" I asked smiling at the elder Vulcan. I looked from Spock to the other man and an uncanny resemblance was hard to miss.

"Yes, I am Spock Prime." My jaw hit the floor.

"Nero interrupted the space time continuum and Spock Prime came with him. I apologize if I have thrust this shock upon you but he wished to see you." The younger Spock said.

I sat down in the nearest chair my mind swirling from all of the excitement. "Hang on. You are from the future, yes?" Spock Prime nodded. "But it's a different future than the one we have now?"

"Yes it is quite different, Temperance. James Kirk grew old and you 'died' rather young. You trusted me as much as you trust the Spock you know in this universe and we both harbor your secret."

"Oh..." Was all I could mutter. James wasn't supposed to die; he was supposed to live a long and full life. I was supposed to die young and Spock was supposed to help watch over those that I loved for me.

"Please mind meld with me." I begged. "I want to know everything you do."

Spock Prime looked at his younger self and the Spock I knew left us alone. "It has been a long time since I have seen you use this face. I miss it." He stated plainly. Apparently in his old age Spock had learned to embrace both his Vulcan side and his Human side.

"I assume I kept in touch with you and you watched over everyone for me?" I asked curiosity killing me.

"I'll show you the life you lived. The life I have lived." We moved to the couch and his rested his fingers on my face in the familiar position for a mind meld. "Two minds, connected." He mumbled before his emotions and memories flooded mine.

"_In my world, you were ship's counselor. Jim was Captain and I was first officer. Jim never grew up from his womanizing ways and your relationship always stayed platonic." _

_The hazy feeling of another's memories invading my own let me see all of us serving on the Enterprise. There was no Nero, no war. Only happiness. We were all significantly older. James had to be around thirty-five and Spock looked only a little bit older than he did now. I looked ever the same but I had a silver band on my ring finger. _

"_You married. While I always knew you loved James more than anything else there was someone else that you loved almost as much…Leonard McCoy. You had three children together and you retired from Starfleet not too longer after this scene." _

_The picture changed to a plantation home on over a hundred acres. "Leonard and you returned to the Georgia where he was from and raised your children together until your untimely death seven years later." I saw a little girl with brown wavy hair and gorgeous hazel eyes running around the front yard. She was chasing after Leo and I fought to keep my tears at bay. _

"_You came to me not too long after your death. You were a different person, but I was expecting you. We had discussed what would happen when you had to 'die'. I watched over Leonard and your three children until Leonard died and your children were fully grown and living their own lives." _

_I saw the same hazel eyed girl grown up with her two brothers. The boys had my eyes and Leo's signature scowl. A maternal tugging in my stomach made it feel as though I had carried them and birthed them in this lifetime. _

I felt his fingers move from my face and I knew I had my mind to myself. The image of our daughter and Leo was permanently etched into my mind.

The image had become too comfortable and I could see us living like that now. I had never been with James, even in the past life we weren't able to make it work. He hadn't lived in this life to see if we could make it work. I had to see if I could have the same blissfully happy life with Leo. He deserved it and I wanted to see that little girl playing with her dad in the flesh.

"What did I do after I 'died'?" I asked.

"You lived on Vulcan, as a Vulcan woman that I was betrothed to. That way no suspicion would grow when I contacted you frequently or when you spent extended periods of time on the ship."

"What did Nyota have to say to that?" I asked laughing.

"Nyota and I were not together in my timeline. We didn't meet until after I had met you and after then it was too late for me to have feelings for anyone besides yourself."

I was in shock again. "You loved me?" I sputtered out hardly believing it myself.

"Yes, I have loved you ever since I first met you Temperance. I am quite certain that this Spock would share the same sentiments if it wasn't for him meeting Nyota first."

Once again I was at a loss of words and all I could do was think about the information that Spock Prime had told me.

"This is quite a confusing story and life you have told me." I said as I smiled at him.

"That it is, my dear. Now you mustn't speak of what you know. Everything has changed, but your life and the lives of those around you must play out as they are supposed to in this lifetime." I nodded my head and the Spock I knew re-entered the room.

"I hope I am not interrupting, but I need to speak with Temperance before she leaves." He said calmly and emotionlessly.

"Please join us. I have finished talking to her about everything I needed to say." Spock Prime said in the same monotone voice they shared.

"Have you and Dr. McCoy talked about my offer to serve on the Enterprise?" He asked.

"Yes and I'm sorry but we must decline. We don't wish to lose each other in a crazy scheme, we've lost too much already and…I'm pregnant." I answered hesitating when I broke the news of me expecting.

"I offer my congratulations, and my regret to not having you with us. You will be missed." Spock said as his emotion of sadness swept over me.

"I'd like to see you both before you leave." I said standing. I had to get home to make dinner for Leo and find a way to tell him I was pregnant…just not with his child.

"I will see you many times before you 'die' in this lifetime Temperance." Spock Prime said as he hugged me. "Congratulations." He whispered into my ear.

"I will converse with you soon so we can meet before we leave." The younger Spock said as he hugged me.

As I stood at the door both raised their hands and separated their fingers simultaneously. "Live long and prosper."

--

The aromas of BBQ hit me as I entered into our apartment, I smiled glad to have my Tempe even more back to normal. It had been a long time since she had cooked; I had missed both her cooking and her. I walked up behind her wrapping my arms around her waist and kissing her neck as she stirred the potato salad.

"Smells delicious darlin'." I said kissing her neck again. She leaned back, against me. "I missed you." She said as she turned around in my arms to kiss me. For the first time since Jim's death she kissed me with nothing but love and need.

I wrapped my arms around her tighter pulling her petite form closer. She deepened the kiss and I taste the slightest hint of the BBQ that we were going to eat soon. Her hands buried themselves in my hair and I couldn't resist but to pick her up. She wrapped her legs around my waist and I pushed her up against the wall.

My lips parted from hers and trailed down her delicious neck. She moaned in pleasure and arched her back causing her to come flush against me. We hadn't been like this since our last time on the Enterprise. We were so close to losing our control and just falling into bed. Since Jim died she had slept in bed with me, we had cuddled and kissed, but nothing more than that.

I pulled away from my attack on her delicate skin and stared at her. She was flushed and she was wanting for us to continue. Seeing Spock today made some switch flip in her brain, she was back to the Tempe that I loved and craved.

"More..." She begged breathily. She looked like a goddess and I couldn't deny her anything. I continued my attack on her neck, biting and sucking at the soft flesh. Marks were sure to be there tomorrow, but I didn't care that would only mark her as my own.

I carried her from the kitchen to the bedroom; I laid her down on the bed and drank in the sight of her for the first time since I arrived home. Her hair was spread out like a halo framing her creamy skin and angelic face. Her plump lips were red from kissing and the creamy skin on her neck already had the purple promises of hickeys. She was wearing a thin white summer dress that hugged her in every right way. Her emerald eyes were a dark green from desire.

I growled as I crawled on top of her, kissing her fiercely. Her dainty hands went to the bottom of my shirt and I pulled back allowing her to pull it off in one fluid motion. I inched her dress up her legs and her torso until she sat up so I could pull it off.

The rest of our clothes were discarded and for the first time in a month and a half we were one again. I lost myself within her, and just followed the basic rhythm that we both knew by heart. Our bodies melded together as perfectly as they had in the past.

The climax was earth shattering as she screamed my name. We were both lost on the wave of pleasure that consumed us. When it ended I separated us gently and pulled her into my arms. Both my skin and hers was sticky from the sweat and she stuck to me as she lay on my chest.

"I love you." I murmured into her mused hair. She moved to her elbows and looked me straight in the eye. "I love you too, Leo."

The oven beeped signally dinner was ready and that our moment was over. She leapt from the bed. "Shit the food!" She exclaimed as she pulled on the first shirt of mine she found. I watched her run to the kitchen, wearing nothing but my favorite button-up shirt. I smiled and thought for the first time since my divorce that I could see that for the rest of my life and die a happy man.

I lazily stood and stretched only pulling on a pair of boxers before I left our bedroom. She was standing next to the oven wearing hot mitts and my shirt holding a pan full of delicious BBQ. Her smile lit up the entire room. She sat the hot pan down as I walked over to her.

"Marry me." I said as I wrapped my arms around her. Her emerald eyes widened in surprise and she blurted out. "I'm pregnant."

--

"You're pregnant?!" He spluttered out barely able to say it. I watched the gears turn and click into place. I couldn't speak so I just nodded my head.

"That would explain why you have been so nauseous recently." He said more to himself than to me. I stood there anxiously waiting to hear what he would say next.

"I'm assuming it's mine?" He asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose. I tried to speak, I had my mouth open but no words would come out.

"It's not mine?" He said as he looked at me. I shook my head. "Tempe, who is the father?" He asked suddenly very cold.

"James." I finally found my voice.

Leo sighed in relief. "If it wasn't mine at least it's his." He sat down in the nearest chair. "Come here sweetheart." He opened his arms and I went to sit on his lap. He pulled me into his warm chest.

"I love you, and Jim was my brother. It's only fittin' that I help you raise his child." He kissed my temple and I sighed.

"I love you too, Leo. Is your offer still on the table?" I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Of course. Will you, Temperance Anne Black, marry me?" He said as I brushed my nose against his.

"Yes." I said smiling before I kissed his lips gently. I pulled away smiling at him. "Temperance Anne McCoy. Sounds good, doesn't it?"

"Sounds perfect darlin'. Now let's eat." I stood and served us dinner.

He dove into his food and wasn't trying to have those perfect Southern gentleman manners I knew he had. "It's delicious honey." He said as I wiped some barbeque sauce off his chin.

"When do you want to get married?" He asked through a mouthful of potato salad.

"Before the Enterprise leaves. I'd like Spock to marry us." I said taking a bite of the meat.

Leo started coughing. "That soon?" He asked shocked.

"Yes. I don't want a big ceremony just something simple and sweet to start our life off together." I said as I patted his back soothingly.

"What the hell! I already have one marriage that failed and it was a long drawn out affair, might as well live a little! Anyways you'll be ten times the wife that soul sucking leech was." He kissed me abruptly and I laughed at him.

"You make the plans darlin' and I'll be at the chapel." I smiled at him and I no longer yearned for the life I could've had, I was happy with the life I was living. I had a beautiful baby growing inside of me, a soon-to-be loving husband, and an entire future ahead of me.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed :) I certainly know that I did. Somehow Leo is so much easier to write than James. I guess it's just my crazy thing I have for older men. Hehe anyways please review! I love getting input from you guys! If you want more..I might comply and write more but if you are happy with this ending, say the word and I shall not add on to it! Anyways thanks for sticking through it all with me. I appreciate every bit of support and feedback. Until the next time..Cheers! **

**~Jacklyn **


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